The One Person I Can Never Meet
by The Sun Sees Not
Summary: Marnie has to read The Outsiders for her private school English project. What if she became too involved with the story? Dreams are never what they seem. Quiet girls and quiet boys often find themselves the dreams of each other.


Marnie wasn't accepted anywhere except a hospital. She was your average girl, living in an average house, in an average town. However, she was "exceptional", as her mother put it. Marnie was albino. Not the common albino with light blonde hair, blue eyes, and light skin with little pigmentation. Marnie was the rare sort of albino; the kind where there is no pigmentation, leaving her with mid-back length, white, wavy hair, very pale skin, and pale red eyes. Due to a large amount of teasing at her last school, she was enrolled in a private school meant for children who are physically different than others. It was a very accepting environment, leaving her with a shaded dorm room shared with one other girl who she barely talked to. Truthfully, Marnie rarely talked at all.

"Now class," Mr. Schwartz said, glancing around the classroom, making sure every student possessed a copy of "The Outsiders". "I want you to read the first couple chapters this weekend and we'll do a full review on Monday." As if it was waiting, the bell quickly rang and the class stormed out to their dorms, happy for the Friday. The weekend was something cherished by Marnie. It meant that she could stay huddled in her dorm, not having to put on high sunscreen according to a schedule. When she arrived, she quickly changed into something she rarely wore – a t-shirt and knee-length jean shorts. Marnie applied a low SPF sunscreen and ran over to her bean-bag chair, taking out her book. She quickly scanned the cover, instantly interested, and began reading. She didn't even remember being tired…

"What should we do with her?" Marnie heard an accented voice while she began opening her eyes.

"I dunno, leave her in the streets." Marnie quickly smelled cigarette smoke and began coughing.

"Hey, what do y'know, she's waking up!" the second voice said, kneeling over her. Marnie quickly gasped and began looking at her surroundings. She quickly was on her feet, looking at the people before her.

"You gave us quite a scare!" an older boy said, patting himself on the stomach.

"You want something to drink?" a handsome boy wearing a uniform asked, glancing over to the gas station. Marnie slowly shook her head 'no', confused.

"Where am I…who are you?" Marnie asked softly, putting a hand over her eyes to block the mid-day sunlight.

"You're in Tulsa and I'm Sodapop," the handsome boy said, flashing a smile, "This is Two-Bit, Ponyboy, and Johnny." He finished, rustling Johnny's hair. Johnny frowned, quickly fixed his hair and returned his attention back to Marnie. "Oh, and Steve's in the shop," Sodapop added, pointing to the gas station.

Marnie nodded and quietly added, "I'm Marnie." Marnie quickly remembered the names from the book and convinced herself she was dreaming. What supported her opinion was the fact that she wasn't sun burnt even though she had been lying there for a while.

"I gotta get back to work. See you guys later!" Sodapop said, quickly running to the shop, his shirt uniform fluttering in the small breeze.

"So, what's a Soc like you doin' lyin' on the ground like that?" Two-Bit asked, inhaling his cigarette. If this was a dream, Marnie decided she'd make an interesting story for herself, too!

"I was running away from home and I guess I must've passed out from exhaustion or something. I haven't slept in a couple of days," Marnie said, never knowing how good at lying she actually was.

"Jeez, a soc running away from home? What was so bad at home?" Two-Bit asked, blowing out more smoke and stepping on the butt of his cigarette, grinding it into the pavement.

"I was sick of my parents fighting all the time, so I just left," Marnie replied. It was actually half true. Her parents did fight a lot before the divorce. Before the private school, Marnie had lived with her mother, visiting her father once a month by schedule. Everything was done by schedule in her life now.

"Yeah, a lot of us know what that's like here," Two-Bit said, quickly glancing at Johnny as if it was reflex more than an action, "You know where you're stayin'?"

Marnie thought for a moment. 'Am I going to wake up before I sleep in my dream?' she asked herself. "Uh…no," Marnie said, smiling slightly.

"We'll figure somethin' out," Two-Bit said, walking over to the gas station, talking with another guy, Sodapop, and another guy who wore a matching uniform shirt, which Marnie guessed was Steve.

"So…what do you do for fun?" Ponyboy finally spoke, putting his thumbs in his pockets, leading Johnny and Marnie over to a small area under the shade, sitting right against the gas station. Johnny took a seat right next to him and Marnie sat across from them, examining their appearance.

"I like music…and reading," Marnie said, glancing down at her hands, neatly folded in her lap.

"Yeah, that stuff's nice. Me and Johnny like that stuff too," Ponyboy said, smiling. Marnie quickly guessed that Johnny didn't talk much like her. She quickly started to think of these two as her friends. They both looked about her age and she already read that Johnny was actually sixteen. Knowing how his home was, Marnie quickly felt bad for Johnny. It was true – he really was lost.

"WOO-WEE!" Two-Bit yelled while jumping at Ponyboy, scaring Johnny's eyes shut. He quickly noticed and said "Sorry Johnnycake, I forgot."

Johnny's eyes opened and he quietly spoke, "It's okay."

"Anyways, I got big news," Two-Bit yelled, looking at Marnie, "Sodapop said he'd talk to Darry, their older brother, about you stayin' at their place. He said it'd probably be okay though because they had an extra bedroom ever since their parents died." Ponyboy winced at ending sentence. Marnie remembered that they were Pony's parents, too. Two-Bit didn't seem to notice his reaction.

"That's great…" Marnie quietly said, smiling softly. She glanced over to Johnny to see him looking over at her but he quickly moved his eyes somewhere else, a small blush appearing on his dark skin. As if on cue, a soc car pulled up with a guy wearing a yellow sweater and high khaki pants. 'Who's this guy?' Marnie asked herself before standing up along with Ponyboy and Johnny.

"What's going on here?" the guy said, shutting the car door and lifting his arms like he was on top of the world.

"Leave us alone, Randy," Two-Bit stood defensively.

"Hey, I don't want no trouble," Randy replied, walking around, a sickening smile on his face. "Why don't you just tell me, what is that soc doing with you greasers?"

"None of your damn business," Two-Bit replied, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Is there a problem here?" a guy behind Randy said, inhaling his cigarette.

"Yeah, Dally. Randy here can't understand the words 'go away'." Two-Bit relaxed a little. Marnie quickly looked at Dallas, slightly scared from the description in the book. He was tough, he was mean, and he wasn't going to accept her no matter what if he thinks she's a soc.

"I'm going…" Randy walked over to his car, smirking, "But if that "whitie" ever wants to have some real fun, she knows where she can find us." Marnie was disgusted and silently walked behind Ponyboy and Johnny, scared.


End file.
